South Tama boys track win Wolverine Invitational

April 25, 2013

Although track and field meets have been scarce this spring, South Tama's boys team took advantage of its last one and made a statement to other North Iowa Cedar League schools.

On April 16, the Trojans traveled to Dike-New Hartford for an 11-team meet, most of whom were NICL schools. South Tama easily took home the team title from the Wolverine Invitational. STC scored 144.5 team points, far ahead of runner-up Waspie Valley's 107 points.

"It was a good meet," STC coach George Kuhter said. "We talked about it and said we were going to go in there and hide or go in there and blow everybody away. What we wanted to do is score as many points as humanly possible. There were a couple of things that went a little haywire, but those were beyond our control. Everybody ran well."

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The South Tama boys track and field team won the Wolverine Invitational at Dike-New Hartford on April 16. It was the Trojans first meet victory of the season.

The Trojans beat NICL West schools AGWSR, West Marshall and Grundy Center. They will see all of those teams and four more at Monday's NICL meet at Grundy Center.

"It was a nice conference preview," Kuhter said. "We saw a lot of the NICL schools. We beat West Marshall pretty handily, but I don't think they're lineup was as strong as it could be."

Kuhter admitted he was trying to score a lot of team points at the meet. The Trojans did just that in winning their first meet of the spring.

"Goal number one was score a lot of points," Kuhter said. "Goal number two was to have fun and goal number three was getting everybody out running. When you run on Tuesday and not again until the following Tuesday, it's tough. These guys are getting pretty bored of me telling them about what they should do.

"It was fun and it's always good to win a meet," he said. "The boys had fun and enjoyed it."

South Tama won two individual events at the invitational. Kaleb Davenport won the 200-meter dash in a time of 23.35, just ahead of two Waspie Valley runners.

Sam Kuhter was the other individual champion. Kuhter jumped 20-feet, 6.5 inches to defeat teammate Kyle Stephenson by two inches for first place. Stephenson also finished runner-up in the 100-meter dash, with Davenport placing third in the same race.

"Other than the relays, Sam and Kaleb were our only individual champs in the long jump and 200," coach Kuhter said. "In a place where he normally doesn't jump well, he jumped well."

South Tama also placed high in almost every race. Bo Blocker and Zach Morris finished third and fourth in the 400-meter dash. Clay Waterbury and Tyler Martens placed second and fourth in the 800-meter run. Brady Ellenbecker finished runner-up in the 1,600-meter run. Blake Keller was fourth in the 3,200-meter run. Dylan Kalinay placed second in the 110-meter hurdles.

"The distance guys are really starting to come along," Kuhter said. "Clay Waterbury did a really good job in his open 800. We put him in there to see what he can do against a guy that might be a 1,600 state champ at 1A. Clay ran him down to the wire. Brady ran him down the wire in the 1,600. Blake Keller ran well. I like the distance guys."

The Trojans were also successful in their relays last week. Davenport, Kalinay, Daryl Bidwell and Stephenson teamed up to win the 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays. The 4x800-meter relay team of Waterbury, Robert Tyynismaa, Martens and Ellenbecker finished second in their race. The distance medley team of Tyler Blocker, Bo Blocker, Tyynismaa and Ellenbecker also placed runner-up.

"We were top three in most relays and that's where you want to be," Kuhter said. "You can grab a punch of points there."

South Tama's home meet on Tuesday was canceled because of weather. The Trojans are competing at the Drake Relays this weekend in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. They will next compete at the NICL meet at Grundy Center on Monday.